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A Happy Life starts with a Happy Place

March is here and we look forward to some better weather. 25 degrees this morning here in Oregon, but we ready the Passport for another weekend adventure. Last week we did some upgrades to the RV, one that was a must and a couple others that are just upgrades or nice to have.First, the must item, and the more I think about it… yes it needed to be replaced, but we decided to replace it.. again, with a better one. I am talking about out Tongue Jack.
On our last outing the Harbor Freight tongue jack that we replaced the original crank jack with finally gave out. We got a good three years out of it so in Harbor Freight terms, we got our money worth. It was a serious situation that when it finally did give out and we did a quick $60 fix (removed the urgency from the situation). Last week however I went down to Camping World and picked up a new Smart Jack from Lippert. It is a 3500 lb jack and has some cool features like setting the hitch height. It was a super easy install and it is functioning great. Lesson learned. When you raise the Jack for travel and you hear the “Clunk”. You have gone to far. Repeatedly raising the jack to the absolute top will eventually wear out the gears and it will seize up. The fix. I am adding a strip of duct tape to the drop leg at the point before it reaches the top. This will allow for some space so I do not reach the top and hear the “Clunk”. This will keep the gears from seizing and wearing out. You can see the install here.The second upgrade we did was to replace the faucet in the bathroom sink. We removed the standard plastic faucet which did not fit very well with the sink. It was hard to wash hands, brush teeth etc. We replaced it with the 4 inch faucet from Valterra. This new faucet is higher and has a better reach into the sink. The single handle is a nice feature that we like and it matches the faucet that we have in the galley. We went with the nickel brushed look. It goes well with the counter top in the bathroom, as it does in the galley. This too was a real easy install. Literally took about 10 minutes, mostly because I was shooting a video that showed the install. I really like how it looks in the bathroom and adds to better functioning of the bathroom sink. I wish we would have done this upgrade years ago.
So a word about things like hardware for the sink etc. I understand why the manufacturers put in less expensive and lesser quality items like plastic faucets and sinks and hand crank tongue jacks in the trailers. First it reduces the overall cost. I appreciate that. In most cases it cuts down on the weight of the trailer also. That in the grand scheme of things is not that important to me. My tow vehicle can handle the weight and the frame, axels, and build the trailer will certainly handle the extra weight of a new bathroom faucet. So it really is a cost issue. All of us are looking at ways to save money, but in the long run, if you are going to make your RV something that you love, you will eventually upgrade items. We have been doing this little by little and one item at a time. We find the items when they are on sale or when we can. Little by little we have made the trailer better and better. Many times its the little things that make a big difference.The other upgrade that we are replacing is our stabilizers. We bent one on a trip out to Sera and Sand RV resort a year ago. It has not stopped the functioning of the stabilizer, but it is bent and I don’t like it. I saw a video of a guy that replaced his stabilizers for beefier more solid stabilizers, again, the manufactures put on stabilizers that get the job done, but are lesser quality. So we went to our RV dealers store and picked us up some of the EAZ Lift 5000 lb stabilizers. Not that we will ever need or put 5000 pounds on each of the four stabilizers at any given time, but these stabilizers are …. well…. stable. They reduce the wiggle and sway and are solid. The old ones can literally be shaken by hand, the new Eaz Lift stabilizers give a fit and feel of stability. I am looking forward to getting out and seeing the difference in our RV with these on.
Well, that is it for now. We are doing some little things inside the RV, adding some personal touches, but major purchases are over for now… oh except the big upgrade. For those of you that follow us on Instagram you saw it last week.. We paid off the trailer! A major upgrade in for our financial situation!
What are some of the upgrades you have done? We’d love to hear.
Have a Happy Day!